Teejay
Adult Guinea Pig
Hi everyone, I haven't been around for a while - busy, busy, busy! - but I would really appreciate some advice. My name is Tracey and I've been running a small holiday boarding facility for rabbits, guinea pigs, etc (www.vipiggies.co.uk) for three years. I have loads of experience with guineas (as well as the boarders, I have 10 of my own), but I'm a bit stumped with Toby, a piggie in my care.
It's a strange arrangement, actually; his owner (who's been a boarding customer for a couple of years now) has accepted a job in Dubai. When she was first offered the job (a couple of months ago) she initially asked me to care for Toby, for a couple of months, until she got settled and then she would make arrangements to fly Toby over to join her. We also had a couple more conversations about the situation (there was a lot to discuss) and we arranged for Toby to come stay with us from Wednesday of last week.
However, when he arrived with me on Wednesday, I was shocked speechless by the poor fella......he was literally half the size he was the last time I saw him, totally skin and bone and drooling at the mouth. Toby's owner explained that he'd had two lots of dental surgery (it was difficult to get to the bottom of what that surgery entailed), that he'd seen the vet that morning (before coming to me) for a post-op check, and the vet had said Toby was doing well. She also mentioned that Toby had had a 'gut infection'.
As far as I was concerned, though, Toby was NOT doing well at all!....the poor thing was literally staving to death before my eyes (I weighed him when he arrived at 530g....he's fully grown and was quite chunky when he last came to stay with us). I booked him in to see my own vet, Marie Kubiak at Manor Vets, on Friday evening. The verdict was that Toby has "chronic and severe dental disease", poor fella. Considering he had only very recently had his dental surgery (hence the post-op check-up two days before), his teeth had already started to get long and grow over his tongue. Marie said that his back teeth had been so overgrown for so long that he no longer had any muscle tone around his jaw and his front teeth are no longer meeting :-(
We agreed that Toby is in no way well enough to undergo more dental surgery, so the plan is for me to try to get him fitter and get some weight on him. I have 10 days and then we'll decide about his future.
Oh, and the day after Toby saw the vet, I had a call from one of the vets to say that he also has coccidiosis :-( I assume that info was sent from his previous vet in Cambridge. He's now on a course of Baycox to treat that.
Since the day he arrived, I've been desperately trying to get the poor fella to eat....I really feel like I'm fighting to save his life. His appetite is ok, most of the time he so desperately wants to eat, but he just can't close his jaws to pick any food up or chew. He's frantic to eat veggies, but no matter how small I chop them, he just can't get anything in his mouth.
He's guzzling down recovery food from a spoon, which I'm giving him every 2 or 3 hours, as much as he'll eat. I've also grated up some carrot, apple, melon, bell pepper and cucumber, and he's been eating a very small bit of that from a spoon. He is frantic to eat, you can see him panic whenever I move the spoon away from him to refill it with recovery food. I've also been trying to tempt him with chopped up fresh grass and dandelions, chopped/shredded fresh herbs (which he can't manage, even when I try hand-feeding it to him piece by piece), pure fruit baby food, veggie baby food, porridge made with water, and I've even tried to puree grass for him :-) That wasn't a great success! He has wet, mushed up pellets in his cage, as well as a bowl of water with probiotic and a bottle of plain water. I've been syringe feeding him Dioralye as well.
As I'm sure there are loads of TGPF members (sadly) with loads of experience of feeding underweight, neglected and sick piggies, I really want to pick your brains for any ideas to keep poor little Toby eating (I can't be with him all the time).
He's indoors and wrapped up snugly (fleecy igloo with a fleece blanket wrapped round it for extra warmth) and he's currently bedded on paper and soft hay (the whole cage is stuffed with it), he also has a 'hay cake' which he seems very keen to nibble at (although he's not getting much hay from it, he can't even manage to eat the little bits I pull from the cake for him).
I'm really at a loss...other than what I'm already doing/trying, are there any other tips you can give me, anything you've tried in the past that has worked?
Oh, he's on Metacam daily and Septrin twice daily (both of which the owner forgot to bring with her....good job I have a mini piggie pharmacy in the fridge, just in case!)
I really appreciate any suggestions you guys can offer, and hope you can point me in the right direction or give me some tips/hints, etc.
Many thanks, Tracey x
It's a strange arrangement, actually; his owner (who's been a boarding customer for a couple of years now) has accepted a job in Dubai. When she was first offered the job (a couple of months ago) she initially asked me to care for Toby, for a couple of months, until she got settled and then she would make arrangements to fly Toby over to join her. We also had a couple more conversations about the situation (there was a lot to discuss) and we arranged for Toby to come stay with us from Wednesday of last week.
However, when he arrived with me on Wednesday, I was shocked speechless by the poor fella......he was literally half the size he was the last time I saw him, totally skin and bone and drooling at the mouth. Toby's owner explained that he'd had two lots of dental surgery (it was difficult to get to the bottom of what that surgery entailed), that he'd seen the vet that morning (before coming to me) for a post-op check, and the vet had said Toby was doing well. She also mentioned that Toby had had a 'gut infection'.
As far as I was concerned, though, Toby was NOT doing well at all!....the poor thing was literally staving to death before my eyes (I weighed him when he arrived at 530g....he's fully grown and was quite chunky when he last came to stay with us). I booked him in to see my own vet, Marie Kubiak at Manor Vets, on Friday evening. The verdict was that Toby has "chronic and severe dental disease", poor fella. Considering he had only very recently had his dental surgery (hence the post-op check-up two days before), his teeth had already started to get long and grow over his tongue. Marie said that his back teeth had been so overgrown for so long that he no longer had any muscle tone around his jaw and his front teeth are no longer meeting :-(
We agreed that Toby is in no way well enough to undergo more dental surgery, so the plan is for me to try to get him fitter and get some weight on him. I have 10 days and then we'll decide about his future.
Oh, and the day after Toby saw the vet, I had a call from one of the vets to say that he also has coccidiosis :-( I assume that info was sent from his previous vet in Cambridge. He's now on a course of Baycox to treat that.
Since the day he arrived, I've been desperately trying to get the poor fella to eat....I really feel like I'm fighting to save his life. His appetite is ok, most of the time he so desperately wants to eat, but he just can't close his jaws to pick any food up or chew. He's frantic to eat veggies, but no matter how small I chop them, he just can't get anything in his mouth.
He's guzzling down recovery food from a spoon, which I'm giving him every 2 or 3 hours, as much as he'll eat. I've also grated up some carrot, apple, melon, bell pepper and cucumber, and he's been eating a very small bit of that from a spoon. He is frantic to eat, you can see him panic whenever I move the spoon away from him to refill it with recovery food. I've also been trying to tempt him with chopped up fresh grass and dandelions, chopped/shredded fresh herbs (which he can't manage, even when I try hand-feeding it to him piece by piece), pure fruit baby food, veggie baby food, porridge made with water, and I've even tried to puree grass for him :-) That wasn't a great success! He has wet, mushed up pellets in his cage, as well as a bowl of water with probiotic and a bottle of plain water. I've been syringe feeding him Dioralye as well.
As I'm sure there are loads of TGPF members (sadly) with loads of experience of feeding underweight, neglected and sick piggies, I really want to pick your brains for any ideas to keep poor little Toby eating (I can't be with him all the time).
He's indoors and wrapped up snugly (fleecy igloo with a fleece blanket wrapped round it for extra warmth) and he's currently bedded on paper and soft hay (the whole cage is stuffed with it), he also has a 'hay cake' which he seems very keen to nibble at (although he's not getting much hay from it, he can't even manage to eat the little bits I pull from the cake for him).
I'm really at a loss...other than what I'm already doing/trying, are there any other tips you can give me, anything you've tried in the past that has worked?
Oh, he's on Metacam daily and Septrin twice daily (both of which the owner forgot to bring with her....good job I have a mini piggie pharmacy in the fridge, just in case!)
I really appreciate any suggestions you guys can offer, and hope you can point me in the right direction or give me some tips/hints, etc.
Many thanks, Tracey x
All you can do is what you are doing and hope you can get the weight up with the recovery food. The plus point is he wants to eat but obviously can't with his mouth being the way it is. Has he got any pain relief for any discomfort he may be getting in his mouth. Our vet does conscious dentals if that is an avenue you think may be worth pursuing... I would advise speaking to Debbie, as you know she has tons of experience in syringe feeding.
. Feel better little one <3
